Unbroken
by TheCivilState
Summary: When they awoke, Paris was ablaze in the sun and Caroline insisted he now show her Rome.


_Memories, sharp as daggers_

Tyler's lips had ghosted over her neck, licking as the smooth expanse of skin he had found there. But then, without warning, he'd nipped her and Caroline could still remember the dread that had settled throughout her body.

_"I'm going to die," _she had remembered thinking, and then recalled the rage that had spread through her body because dammit, she was Caroling fucking Forbes and she'd survived Damon and Katherine and being turned into a damn vampire, so why the hell should she have to die now?

"Did you just bite me?" She spat at Tyler and recoiled away, not because she hated him and didn't want him near, but because she knew she was going to die and life would be easier if she died, alone, on her eighteenth birthday when she was young enough that world could forget her.

Days later, she was up and dressed like Cinderella, attending the ball being hosted by the man responsible for her survival. _Monster, _she had reminded herself as she entered the mansion, _Klaus is a monster. _

On more than one occasion that evening, she swore he could hear what she was thinking. So she would think louder, _You're a monster, I hate you, leave me alone, _in the hopes he would hear her silent message and leave her be. And yet he never did. Perhaps he was listening too hard to her inner thoughts.

Because if Caroline were honest, she'd admit that they were saying anything but _leave me alone. _It was more like, _Come closer._

_Suicide of love took away all that matters_

_And buried the remains in an unmarked grave in your heart_

It was raining. Caroline was pissed that it was raining, but then again, had the sun had the audacity to shine, she probably would have found a way to rip it from the sky. Damn the supernova consequences and the end of the world. She was a vampire. At the moment, that meant she could survive anything.

Even Tyler's death.

The cemetery was brimming with well wishes and friends she didn't really know Tyler had had. Suicide was what they had called it, deciding that was the only logical explanation for the football star to skip town and turn up dead in a city a few hours away. Drug overdose was what they had claimed was the cause of death, but Caroline knew better. It was that damned sire bond Klaus had over Tyler. That damned sire bond Tyler was trying to break. The damned sire bond Tyler was trying to break for _her._

Oh yes. Caroline could survive just about anything.

_Nailed to the cross, together_

"How could you!" She beat her fists against Klaus' chest, but the Original Hybrid didn't flinch. He didn't react. He merely stared at her impassively as she raged against him and called down all of heaven on his head for stealing away Tyler, her boyfriend, her love.

"I didn't kill him, love." The slap echoed throughout the empty Mikaelson home because everyone had deserted him the way they always did. Perhaps that's why he stood and took Caroline's abuse because at least it was company. At least he wasn't alone in a house decorated for a family that no longer wanted him.

"But you didn't save him either."

Klaus wasn't the hero type. He wasn't the classic villain with the waxen mustache, but he wasn't the prince either. The anti-hero, he believed the term was. It didn't really matter what he was, because in that moment, staring at Caroline with her red rimmed eyes and messy blonde hair, all he wanted was to be the hero. To be the one who saved her from the life she was living. To think Tyler's death left him with no competition was a disgusting thought, but it was a thought that nonetheless danced through his mind as he watched Caroline openly sob before him. It was as though she were trying to bring Tyler back to life by bleeding herself of all she was. If anyone could do it, Klaus thought, Caroline Forbes would be the one.

"I'm sorry," he whispered because it was true, he was sorry for Tyler's death because the boy had been a good hybrid. But more importantly, he was sorry for causing the grief Caroline was now experiencing. First her father and now her boyfriend. Vampirism was supposed to be exhilarating, not sorrowing; at least not for the first few decades. And yet here he was, single handedly ruining what she no doubt already considered a ruined life.

"I wish I could hate you," she said through gritted teeth as her body racked with sobs, "I wish you could make me hate you, but you can't. Because I saw something good in you and I'm always a sucker for a lost cause." He chuckled then because the thought of Caroline seeing something good in him was amusing. Almost amusing as the thought of her trying to fix him.

"It's not funny," she spat before a laugh bubbled up in her throat and exploded with a fresh round of tears. She stood in the foyer, laughing and sobbing as the world's most dangerous predator watched her. Watched and waited for the day she would no longer be sad.

"You should go now," he said, voice firm enough to shake Caroline from her emotional outburst. She straightened, body tensing as she cast a look over her shoulder and found Klaus' bother- _Finn, wasn't it?- _standing in the doorway looking at them.

"Caroline," Klaus said, "It's time for you to go." In that moment, she understood. She understood and something snapped inside as both brothers tensed. But when Finn lunged for Klaus, white oak dagger in hand, the dagger did not connect with Klaus' hybrid heart. Instead, it pierced the breastbone of a young blonde, less than an infant to someone as old as them. Shattered her breastbone and sucked the wind out of her as Caroline experienced a pain so excruciating she could do nothing but crumple to the floor.

Her existence with a dagger protruding from her body was short-lived as Klaus removed it, pursuing is brother until he had him pinned to the door with the stump of the dagger protruding from Finn's chest. The elder Original burst into a violet display of flames and Klaus winced at the pain in his chest. It was only then he recalled Esther's curse upon her children.

"You just killed your family," Caroline whispered from her spot on the floor where her chest was slowly pulling itself together again.

"I know."

They both remained silent in the empty house designed for a family now gone. Both pondered the idea of death, something they had forever cheated. Neither understood it better than the other. Death was death. Eternity couldn't explain that.

_Denounce the power of death over our souls _

_And secret words are said to start a war_

"Caroline, he's the enemy!" Caroline held Bonnie at bay as Klaus went to war against his mother. The Bennett witch struggled in Caroline's grasp and as a last ditch effort, she punched her in the face effectively rendering the girl unconscious.

"I'm sorry, Bonnie," she whispered, "I really am." The wind raging around her died and she turned to see Klaus standing about his mother with her heart clenched in his hand. His eyes rose to meet hers and the now useless organ dropped to the ground as though it hadn't beat a second ago.

"Caroline!" Elena's voice broke through the silence and there she was, the doppleganger in all her glory flanked by the Salvatore brothers. There was a pause, a moment of panic before Caroline flew to Klaus' side. She barely had time to register the shocked expression of her best friend before she was willingly allowing the Original Hybrid to pull her away, his bloody hand slick against hers.

_With the venomous kiss you gave me_

They went to Paris. After all, he had promised her and without his family to care for, he suddenly found himself with a good deal of free time.

"Thank you for bringing me here," Caroline said one evening as she stood on the balcony, overlooking the city. She had opted to stay in for the night and Klaus, ever compliant to her demands in regard to this trip- _after all, he'd seen it all before- _had happily agreed. He now sat in a chair by the fire watching her sway in her white dress as the city came alive.

"You're welcome," he said habitually, because this was the twenty-second time she'd thanked him since arriving. Normally, a thank you was prompted by a trip to the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre or some other spectacular sight. To have her thank him while they lounged in their hotel was certainly a deviation from the norm.

"You didn't have to bring me," she said, stepping back into the warmth of the room even though the night was not especially chilly. Even if it had been, Caroline was growing accustomed to not feeling the cold. She was thankful, though, that she could still feel warm.

"I didn't have anything else better to do." He was concentrating on getting her smile right and while her talking wasn't a distraction, trying to figure out where she was going with the conversation was. Her dainty hand darted out and rested against his sketchbook, lowering it until he had no choice but to look up at her.

"Thank you."

It wasn't the standard thank you for when he did something thoughtful or grand or exciting. It wasn't the standard thank you for when he opened the door or helped her with her coat. It wasn't the standard thank you for when he complimented her appearance or presented her with a new sketch. The fact of the matter was, it wasn't a standard thank you at all.

Caroline bent forward, her knee coming to rest on the chair beside Klaus' thigh as she leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. They both stilled, holding the moment as they waited for the other to move. Klaus' hands rose and his fingers wrinkled the material of her dress as they gripped at her waist, pulling her flush to him until she rested in his lap. His mouth moved lazily against hers as her fingers toyed with his hair and she could almost feel the hum of approval that moved through him. His fingers traced the length of her body and she shivered, pressing her chest against his as she bit his lower lip and pulled away.

"I don't hate you," she whispered. It wasn't an I love you. It wasn't some grand pledge of fidelity for an eternity. It was merely simple words spoken at a simple moment in a simple point of time. But they meant the world to Klaus who pulled her head closer and kissed her again.

_With the warmth of your arms you saved me_

Caroline awoke screaming, her body slick with sweat that gleamed in the moonlight slicing through her window. Klaus was there, as he always was, hands tight around her wrists and gentle on her face as he stirred her back into the realm of the awake.

"My dad was burning me," she whispered, falling backwards against her dampened pillows, but her hands never released Klaus, "What hurt the most was he was trying to fix me." Klaus' thumb smoothed over her whitened knuckles as he did his best to comfort her. This wasn't his forte and yet she had never complained.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" It was a dainty request that was nothing more than a breath on the wind, but Klaus heard it. He nodded and lifted Caroline into his arms, taking in the panicked and terrorized smell of her body as her nightmare still physically clung to her.

His sheets were warm and dry and the comfort of having a body beside her helped chased the terrors away. She faced him, head propped onto her arm as her other hand refused to release his. He didn't mind, having rescued her many a nightmare before. This was nothing out of routine. But then she slid closer until her head rested over where his heart softly thrummed as the wolf in him refused to die.

"Thank you," he whispered as he stroked her hair, "You didn't have to save me from Finn."

"Yes I did," she yawned, arm sprawling across his body, "It's hard to fix a lost cause if their dead." He laughed, a low chuckle that jostled her head and she sighed.

"And do I need to be fixed?" It was a sensitive subject, the topic of being 'fixed' and Caroline would always associate the word with the negative experience her father had supplied her with. Stretching, she lengthened her body against his, chin resting on his chest as she smiled at him.

"I wasn't aware you were broken." He kissed her then, a butterfly kiss that sent the nightmares running back into their dark caves.

When they awoke, Paris was ablaze in the sun and Caroline insisted he now show her Rome. It was her unspoken word that she would like to stay with him a little longer and it was his silent vow he would never leave.

_I'm killing loneliness with you_

_I'm killing loneliness that turned my heart into a tomb_

_[song fic inspired by "Killing Loneliness" by HIM]_


End file.
